Editor’s Letter: July | August

Editor Kevin Max prepares to board the flying cloud.

Kerouac said in his seminal On the Road, “There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.”

We are excited to announce the newest rolling member to our family—a 25-foot-long Flying Cloud Airstream—after signing a content partnership with Airstream Adventures Northwest, the country’s largest Airstream dealership. As part of our agreement, Statehood Media explores the valleys and rivers, the forests and deserts of the Pacific Northwest and creates inspirational travel content around these experiences. We have charted more than twenty-five spots in Oregon, Washington and Idaho that we will hit over the next year. At the end of the year, we will publish the stories, the photos and the videos that we collected along the way. The stories on page 88 of this issue represent the first installation in this partnership, with a collection of them to be published late next spring. We will keep a schedule on our website at 1859magazine.com/Airstream for those of you who want to come out and share an adventure or a drink with us under the stars.

The Legacy of the Sawdust Circuit is an engaging history of an early baseball league in Oregon. Perhaps it is not well known because the tools for documentation were still primitive. Maybe it’s because they were so remote in pre-War Southern Oregon. It could also be due to its spectacle of vice with fighting, drinking and dubious commercial offerings. While other parts of America had Babe Ruth and Major League Baseball, Oregon had its own games in the state’s logging lairs. Take a trip back to this era and witness the birth of baseball in the West.

Our Trip Planner settles on the bank of the Columbia Gorge in Hood River. Once (and still) the windsurfing capital of the country, the core of the Fruit Loop is branching out with more reasons for land-lubbers to visit. Lindsay McWilliams jumps in feet first to a weekend of culture and cuisine. See Trip Planner on page 106.

Our musical act brings us to the rock sounds of Portland-based The Slants, or what the band calls “Chinatown Dance Rock.” Stylish and talented, these young Asian Americans keep cranking out melodic gems while fighting to keep their band’s name. The United States Supreme Court will rule on the trademark case in the coming months. In the meantime, catch our piece on The Slants, now out with a new album, appropriately called The Band Who Must Not Be Named.

Few things bring more happiness to my palate than a grilled peach and a whiskey drink. Bring both into your dining room by venturing out to a u-pick orchard to make your own grilled peach salad and (homemade) ricotta (recipe on page 36). Never grill empty-handed, as it leaves you unbalanced and vulnerable. Our Rye Bliss cocktail from Bendistillery is a good way to bring balance back to your life.

Pick up a copy of Bianca Bosker’s entertaining and interesting Cork Dork, a down-to-earth memoir of a tech journalist turned sommelier. I’m getting notes of levity and humor. Cheers!